Divine Comedy
by Violetlight
Summary: 100 years before FMA, Father orders his Homunculi to take part in a "sparring match" to determine the nature of his future 7th child, Wrath. It's Lust & Greed vs. Pride & Envy, but one sibling went WAY too far. See why, exactly, Greed left his family.


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**Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood**

"**Divine Comedy"**

by Violetlight

Disclaimer: I do not own Fullmetal Alchemist, in any of its incarnations. That pleasure belongs to Hiromu Arakawa and Square Enix. I am borrowing their universe and characters for entertainment purposes only.

Timeline: Sometime in the few years between Gluttony's creation, and Greed leaving the others, approx. 100 years before the start the events of _Fullmetal Alchemist_. Takes place about a year after the events described in the flashback portion of the first chapter of my main story, "Wheels Within Wheels". As such, Envy (an androgynous entity in the manga/Brotherhood, with no definite gender) has decided to "be" female for the events of this fic, due to her relationship, of sorts, with Greed, so she will be referred to with feminine pronouns.

Author's Note: This story is far from your usual Valentine's Day fluff, but I thought it would be appropriate to publish on this day. I wanted to further explore the interactions and relationships between the various Homunculi, and what better day on which to do so than on a day that celebrates relationships? Sorry if it ends up being a day or two late. I like my job at EB Games, but it sometimes gets in the way of writing.

* * *

"Ugh, not again! Why is it that every time I actually _have_ something to do, Dad decides to call one of these 'family meetings'?" Greed complained, while checking to see if he had remembered to zip up his pants.

"Please, the only thing you were planning on 'doing' later is Envy." Lust pointed out.

"What? Jealous, are we?"

Lust scoffed. "Jealousy isn't _my_ sin. Besides, you know as well as I do that Father doesn't call these meetings on a whim. He even summoned Sloth, so it must be important."

"The big guy, really? Huh." Greed remarked, and left it at that, as the two homunculi opened the main, large metal doors to their Father's Lair.

As Lust had said, his other siblings had already assembled. Pride, as usual, was stood practically at attention to the right of Father's throne. Gluttony, a finger stuck in his large mouth, was off to the side with Sloth, who looked as bored as usual, despite being allowed a rare visit up from his tunnel. Almost equally bored, Envy perched on one of the metal pipes leading up to the throne, resting her chin on one hand. The shapeshifter turned her head at the sound of Lust and Greed's entrance. Greed had to give a small smile at the subtle (for Envy) scowl she gave at their coming in together. His other sister/lover _was_ the jealous type, though, he had to admit, not that it was unfounded in this case. He had just spent a _nice_ morning with Lust.

"Hey Pops, you called?" Greed said by way of greeting. He walked over to Envy, and crouched down next to her, who inched away before he could slide a hand down the back of her skirt. _Looks like I'll be doing some "calming down" later. _Greed thought with a evil grin of anticipation, as he knew quite well what the end result of getting Envy into a jealous, bitchy rage meant for him.

"Now that you're _finally_ all here," Father began; it was obvious to whom the sarcasm in his voice was aimed towards, "I have an experiment, for which I need all of my children's participation."

Now this got Greed's attention. There was little that Father needed his children for when it came to his always-ongoing alchemical research.

"As all six of you know, you will eventually joined by a seventh and final sibling." Father continued. "However, I have come to a small ... indecision as to what the basic nature of your future sibling, Wrath, will be. The six of you have become divided into three basic groups. Gluttony, Sloth, your natures and abilities are suited completely to your rather specialized roles. As Wrath's role in my plan will require more ... flexibility, he or she will not be like you, so your roles in this experiment will merely be to observe, and _not_ interfere."

Surprisingly, Sloth seemed to understand that rather subtle warning, and placed one large hand on Gluttony's shoulder. This worried Greed. If Father's orders alone were likely not enough to hold Gluttony back ...

"Pride, Envy. The two of you have abilities far beyond that of most other lifeforms, and as such, your ways of experiencing and thinking about the world are quite alien, especially compared to Greed and Lust, who are more similar to humans, with all their vices, and yet, perhaps some of their strengths." That last phrase in particular now got all of the homunculi's attention. It was very rare that Father would admit to humans having _any_ strengths. "This experiment will prove which is stronger, human-like ingenuity and spirit, or raw, Stone-given power, and thus, what the nature of my Wrath will be. I propose a sparring match: Lust and Greed against Pride and Envy. The 'winners' will be those who are able to 'tag' their sibling's Philosopher's Stone, that is, who are in a position where their next move would actually kill the other." If Father even registered his children's shock at his proposal, he ignored it. "You have two minutes to discuss your strategy."

Greed did _not _like this idea, but he also knew protesting was useless. He got up, and walked back over to Lust. Her thoughtful look suggested to Greed that she was already coming up with a plan.

"The best thing we can do is divide their attention – if they actually work together, we're finished." Lust said coldly. "I'll take on Pride; I know my talons can actually rip through his shadows. You take Envy, since you have a distinct psychological advantage over me against her."

"You mean the fact I've been sleeping with her for the past year?" Greed scoffed. "Barely a weekend fling. It's not like I _love_ her or anything, and she should know that. I'm Greed! I want money and women, power and sex ..."

"Spare me the long version, we all know you want 'the finer things'." Lust cut him off. "And I wouldn't insult you by suggesting you were subject to one of the weakest human habits. Right now, it's not _your_ feelings that are important." Greed followed her gaze over to where Envy was now standing beside Pride, as the shapeshifter and shadow-child discussed (or, more likely, argued about) their strategy. Envy was still fidgety – a sure sign that her particular sin was consuming her thought processes.

"Ah, I got ya. So you take the Geek, I'll take the Freak." Greed grinned. "Hey Lusty!" he said, loud enough for the others to hear. "How about a kiss for good luck?"

Lust smiled in understanding, wrapped her arms around Greed and gave him a deep, passionate kiss. Greed kept his eyes slightly open during the kiss, after all, the look on Envy's face was priceless.

Pride put a hand on Envy's shoulder - it was strange for him to actually touch anyone. Greed could not hear what he said to the shapeshifter, but he could guess. Probably something along the lines of 'don't let them get to you'. The nod she gave Pride was definitely reluctant.

"Are you prepared?" Father asked. It had barely been one minute.

"Of course Father. It is my pleasure to provide you with a few minutes of _entertainment_." Pride answered, as he glared at his siblings with obvious contempt. His shadows were not even noticeably apparent. "Envy, you might as well just watch; this will only take a moment."

"What, and miss out on all the fun?" Envy sneered. "Really Pride, you'd deprive me of the opportunity to stuff that cheating bastard's head up his own ass?"

"From what I can see, he already beat you to it." Pride said.

" 'Cheating'? We haven't even begun yet." Greed said smugly, enjoying the snarl his rebuff evoked from Envy.

"Enough chatter." Father commanded, as he settled down on his throne, and folded his hands neatly in his lap. The image he evoked looked quite familiar to Greed, like pictures of the King of Xerxes about to watch a gladiatorial match in one of the 'old man's' equally antiquated history texts. "Begin."

Before the second syllable of Father's order had left his lips, Pride's shadows came rushing towards Greed's and Lust's feet, but Lust was ready for him. With a flick of her wrist, her talons extending quicker than Greed's eyes could follow, she cut the shadows off a few feet in front of them.

"You'd try to take us both at once? You really _are_ an arrogant one, aren't you Pride?" Lust sneered, and rushed towards Pride's childlike container.

During that time, Greed has risen his shield over his forearms and hands, forming his own, diamond-hard claws at the tips of his fingers. Good thing that he had, as he raised his arms, narrowly blocking a punch from Envy, who had covered her own skin in hard, green, reptilian scales. He had not counted on her sprouting a long, lizard-like tail, as she spun around and hit him with it, knocking him onto his back.

Envy leapt on top of him, and Greed had to raise his shield across his stomach to avoid the scythe-like claws on her feet. "Don't think I'm going to go easy on you, just ... because ... " She snarled, her voice already taking on the multiplicity of her unleashed state. "You bastard! I'm going to kick your ass first, and then that skank's!"

"Damn, and I thought you were ugly before, Lizard-Girl!" Greed shoved her off of him.

"Just because I'm not some girly-girl, with stupid high heels and boobs out to Xing!" Envy hissed, her tail whipping back and forth in annoyance.

"Only because you don't want to. You could look like a friggin' sex goddess if you wanted to, your ugliness is your own damn fault." Greed taunted. "You're a shapeshifter, but you still can't get over what you really are, you little green monster." Greed jumped up and extended his shield over everything except his head. "Stop fucking around! If you want me, come and get me bitch!" His slid his shield over his head now to prove his point, even if it did obscure his handsome face.

Alchemical sparks crackled around Envy, and Greed expected her to go full Unleashed state, but surprisingly, she kept to the half-humanoid, half-reptilian shape she had adopted. _That little prick must have told her to hold back, and she's pissed enough at me to listen to him. Maybe screwing Lust this morning wasn't such a good idea, _Greed thought as he tried to dodge her attacks, though she landed a kick in his solar plexus that knocked him back a few feet, one that he felt, even through his armour. _She knows I can't regenerate and keep up my shield at the same time – she's trying to damage me internally. Clever girl._ Greed went on the offensive, spinning around and ripping his claws through Envy's tail, severing it about halfway through. She roared something – he did not catch what, but he was sure it was _not_ polite – and backhanded him across the face. Her shredded tail started regenerating in seconds. _This isn't good. _Greed leapt back and crouched down in defence. _She's just too strong; her Stone's too powerful, and she's completely pissed ... I can't do this forever._

As Envy regenerated her tail, Greed was able to spare a glace towards Lust. All ten of her talons were extended and were whirling their way through Pride's shadows like an angry, razor tornado, but Pride kept sending out more towards her – she was no closer to his container than she had been when the fight began. Pride just stood there, his arms crossed, a smug look on his face as he wore Lust down; like Greed, she could only keep this up for so long.

"Hey Lusty!" Greed shouted and ran towards her as fast as he could, with Envy on his tail. Pride saw his opportunity and sent a barrage of shadows towards her, just as Greed reached Lust and swept her off her feet.

"Ow ow ow! Pride you stupid prick!" Greed heard from behind him as Pride's shadows caught up to the pursuing Envy. He looked over his shoulder, to see the lizard-homunculus impaled on several shadowy points.

"You're the one that got in the way!" Pride shouted, his usual, emotionless composure destroyed by his anger at his sibling.

"You okay, babe?" Greed asked, as he put Lust back on her feet.

"For now. I think we underestimated them." She said, quickly regaining her composure.

"We're not screwed yet." Greed grinned. "In fact, the tables just might be turning." He glanced towards their opponents, as Pride withdrew his shadows from Envy.

She had not even finished regenerating before she was screeching in anger. "That's it! That's so fucking it!" The sparks surrounding her erupted into a lightning storm of alchemical energy.

"Envy! I told you ..."

"Fuck you, Pride! I should have done this to begin with!" Envy roared. The lightning storm expanded around her, and seconds later, was replaced by the form of a very large, very angry, soul-dripping green dragon-monster. No matter how many times Greed saw it, Envy's Unleashed state was always intimidating to him. The "oh shit" look on Lust's face meant the same was true for her.

"How is this better?" Lust shouted, her usual cold composure replaced by obvious panic.

"Trust me, Lusty, we've got this. Go get the little prick while he's distracted – I've got the bitch."

"You sure about this?"

"Hey, I'm a knight in shining armour." Greed's Ultimate Shield's permanent grin actually reflected his real emotions, for once. "Of course I'll beat the dragon." He ran towards Envy. "Hey Ugly! Over here!"

"Oh, so that's where my chew toy went." Envy sneered, and shot out her chameleon-like tongue at Greed as she stalked towards him faster than her huge body seemed capable of.

"Chew toy? I thought that's what you were to me." He dodged her tongue a few times, but he underestimated her speed. He was soon pinned under her large forefoot, and she leaned her considerable weight onto him. "I usually like a girl with a little meat on her bones, but you really should watch your figure more." Greed gasped. This was not going according to plan. Blood trickled out from between his fangs.

"You're going to have to drop your shield and regenerate sooner or later." Envy looked down at him through her odd, mismatched eyes, eerily calm. She positioned one claw over his chest – over where his Philosopher's Stone was. "Give up now."

"Or what? You'll kill me, for real?"

"You idiot ... let's just get this over with."

"You don't want to hurt me, do you? Even though I pissed you off so bad ..." Greed realized.

Envy said nothing to counter his assumption, but she did look shocked. Of course she wouldn't admit it.

"Sorry, my little monster, but I don't like to lose." Greed used her hesitation to wiggle out from Envy's grasp. "I'll make it up to you later, I promise." He jumped up, knocked out one of Envy's wall-sized teeth with a punch, and vaulted into her mouth!

"What the hel...agh, gawk!" Envy choked as Greed grabbed hold of her tongue. She tried to spit him out, but stopped mid-cough as she felt his diamond-hard hand around a certain something at the back of her throat. Reluctantly, she opened her jaws.

Greed had his legs and one arm wrapped around her tongue, as the other hand grasped Envy's Philosopher's Stone. "Hey Pops, I think this is a win!"

"Indeed it is. Well done, Greed." Father said, with no emotion evident in his tone. Greed did not expect anything more from the 'old man'.

"Good match, 'Vee." Greed dropped down to the ground and winced as he jarred his injured insides. "Heh, you always do give me a workout."

"Bad." Envy finished shrinking back down to her usual, humanoid form, and swatted Greed lightly on the ass. At least she was in a slightly better mood now. "Hey Pride, hurry the hell up! I've got stuff to do!" She yelled impatiently.

"You're going to have to wait, 'Vee. I'm not out of this yet." Greed finally dropped his shield, and concentrated on regenerating. He was pretty sure all his ribs were broken, and more than a couple organs were damaged, maybe even crushed. It would be a minute or so before he was back in fighting shape. "Give me a sec, Lusty, and I'll be right there!"

"I don't have a ... ahhh!" Lust screamed as the shadows she was dodging/cutting through finally managed to wrap around one of her wrists. Her hand, and her by extension her talons, was roughly pulled back. Pride's container cracked a small smile, as his other shadows quickly overpowered Lust, engulfing her body from feet to neck in a cocoon of darkness.

"Alright Pride! At least we can call this a draw." Envy had evidently decided to cheerlead for her partner, since she was now out of the fight herself.

Pride, however, was not impressed. "You forgo the right to comment when you _lost_, Envy." He replied, his voice once again taking on his creepy, emotionless tone.

"Just finish it." Lust hissed.

"As did you, sister dear." Pride rebutted. His shadows started moving slowly across Lust's suspended body, but not towards her chest and Philosopher's Stone. Instead, shadowy tendrils crept downwards ...

"Pride ... what are you doing?" Envy ignored her partner's previous warning. Greed glanced towards her. The nervousness in her tone ... that wasn't like Envy _at all_.

"Stop it Pride! Don't do this ... AHHHHHHH!" Lust's scream cut through the atmosphere of the Lair like a dagger. Greed could not believe what he was seeing ... one of Pride's shadows had slid up through the bottom of the shadow-cocoon surrounding Lust, up between her legs ...

Greed was paralyzed with shock. His own brother, treating his sister in such a way ... torturing another homunculus ... it was unthinkable! It took Gluttony's anguished cry to snap him out of it.

"Lust! Pride please stop, please stop! You're ... you're hurting Lust!" his youngest brother wailed pitifully, tears streaming from his tiny eyes, as Sloth's massive arms surrounded him, pinning him in place. "Let me go Sloth! Lust!"

His brother's begging had no effect on Pride. "Do you see now, how inferior you are?" He asked, infuriatingly calmly. "Lust, Greed, even you, Envy. You're all so weak, ruled by your bodies, by your emotions, your desires, your _pain_." The last word was emphasized by another scream from Lust. "You're no different - just as pathetic as those insects above."

"What's wrong with you, you little prick?" Envy yelled, her cheerleading definitely over. "She's not some human you can torture! Lust is our sister! She's one of us! You_ can't_ do this to her!" Alchemical sparks started surrounding Envy ...

Before she could transform, Greed snapped out of his shock-paralysis and pinned Envy to him, carbonizing his arms.

"Let me go, Greed! Let me go, that's my sister up there!" Envy struggled against him.

"No, if I do that, he'll only do the same to _you_!" Greed whispered to her harshly. He winced at Lust's background screams. "I can't let him ... violate _both_ my girls!"

"Greed ..." Envy stopped struggling, but Greed still felt her shaking in his arms. "We can't just let him ..."

"I know, and we're not going to. The hell with Dad's 'experiment'! Listen carefully Envy, I want you to go neuter if you haven't already, and harden your skin against his shadows. Do what you do best – cause a distraction - and I'll make that little asshole wish Father never puked him up!" Greed completely raised his Ultimate Shield. "Ready?" With Envy's nod, he let her go, and was about to put his pseudo-plan into action, when they heard Sloth, of all people, yell.

"Gluttony, stop!" The giant was struggling to hold his brother's expanding rib cage together, as Gluttony's tongue hung out of his mutated mouth, the Eye of his failed Gate visible through the cracks in his ribs.

Gluttony screamed incomprehensibly, as even partially held closed, his Gate started sucking in the furthest of Pride's shadows. With little other option, Greed pulled Envy back against his chest with one carbonized arm, bent down and grabbed hold of one of the pipes snaking across the floor towards Father's throne with the other, in case their brother got out of control, which seemed more and more likely to happen by the second. Greed lifted his head; Gluttony's Gate was starting to tug at the shadows making up the cocoon surrounding Lust.

"BASTARD!" Lust suddenly screamed. She managed to free one hand, her talons ripping through the shadows surrounding them, and stretched forward as far as she could, her talons extending twice as long as their usual, maximum range, her face twisted with wild rage ...

As her middle Spear thrust through Pride's forehead, right between his eyes. Even from his and Envy's position, Greed heard the slight, clink-against-glass sound of the tip of Lust's Ultimate Spear striking the exterior of Pride's Philosopher's Stone.

"Lust wins. Pride, let her go." Father's voice sounded in the now-silence of the Lair. Greed had forgotten the old man had even been there, and a sinking feeling grew like a cancer as it dawned on Greed what that meant. _He had been watching the entire time, and had not stopped Pride._

"I ... I lost?" Pride's shadows dropped Lust and dissolved back into nothing at their master's childish confusion. "I ... lost?" Pride just stared straight ahead, as he repeated that phrase over and over to himself. Not that any of his siblings cared.

"Lust!" Sloth let go of Gluttony, and the rounded homunculus was the first to reach his sister, enveloping her in a tearful hug. Envy was next, and even Sloth wandered over and offered Lust a hand to help her up.

Before joining his siblings in helping their injured sister, Greed looked over towards their Father. He had gotten up from his throne and was already writing something down in one of his books, completely ignoring the fact that one of his children had so cruelly tortured another. The look Greed shot him was of pure contempt and hatred.

* * *

"I still can't believe ... I mean, Lust, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to call you a skank! Well, I did at the time, but that was different ..." Envy jabbered on. The five homunculi had used the excuse of escorting Sloth back to the tunnel leading out to the nationwide Transmutation Circle, just to get away from Father and Pride. The silence of their walk obviously getting to her, Envy would try to start up a conversation at various points, only to be ignored by the others.

"Wait, Big Guy, stop here for a sec." Greed said, as he helped Lust, whom he had been supporting as they walked, lean back against the tunnel wall. "Lust, you haven't fully regenerated yet."

"I can't ..." Lust admitted. Alchemical sparks crackled around her futilely with her exhaustion.

Greed had a sudden sense of panic – her Philosopher's Stone must have been near depletion! "Oh no, Lust! You should have said something ..."

"I don't ... want to be reabsorbed by Father ... not after ... he just sat there and _watched_." Lust gasped. "I'd rather ..."

"No, Lust! You can't ... you can't go!" Envy said, panicked , as Gluttony started crying again.

"Greed ... Envy ..." Sloth surprised his siblings by actually saying something. "Put ... Lust ... up against ... my shoulder ..." Sloth slowly pointed to his Ouroboros symbol, on his right shoulder blade. "Line up ... snakes ..."

Too surprised by the fact that Sloth was offering advice, on _anything_, Envy and Greed did as they were told, and hoisted their sister up onto Sloth's broad back. Much stronger alchemical sparks than had been crackling off of Lust moments before surrounded both her and Sloth. Greed could not see exactly – Lust was in the way – but he swore he saw Sloth's Ouroboros change, from the familiar one serpentine dragon biting its own tail, to two dragons, biting each other's tails.

After a few minutes, Lust slid off Sloth's back, and did a little, experimental twirl. What an improvement from her near-death look of just a few minutes earlier!

"Lust? Are you okay?" Gluttony asked.

"I'm fine ... in fact I feel even better than I did before the fight." Lust said, amazed. "Sloth ... did you recharge my Stone?"

"I didn't know we could do that!" Envy exclaimed. "I mean, I thought Pride was the only one of us who could replenish his Stone without Father's help, 'cause he's Daddy's precious little perfect Prick."

"Heh. I wonder what else the Old Man's been lying to us about." Greed scoffed.

"What ... does it matter?" Sloth said. The giant started marching slowly back down the tunnel. "What ... does any of it matter? Whatever we do ... we're dead. Such a bother. We run ... we're hunted down. Rebel? No. Humans ... won't believe ... won't help ... they'd hate us ... because ... we're different. Help Father ... at least ... we die later. Hurts ... to think about ... such a pain ..."

"Whoa ... that's deep, especially from you, Big Guy." Greed looked at the floor. Judging by the looks on his siblings' faces, they were equally saddened by this revelation.

"So ... all we are to Him ... are slaves?" Lust said sadly. "Hypocrite ..."

Envy nodded. "And to them ...?" she pointed upwards, towards the human world. Central City, Amestris, and all its inhabitants, all the humans that they, no, that _Father_ had been manipulating for centuries, were just above. If they only knew what lurked beneath their feet ..."

"To them, we're monsters." Greed finished.

* * *

Over the long decades of homunculi lives, as Central City had built up above, the rooms, cells and passageways of the underground world below had also expanded. A cluster of such rooms, once meant for prisoner cells, had been taken over by the siblings, decorated and expanded upon with various objects they had smuggled in from the world above, their Father either not noticing or not caring if he did. One might say having their own rooms humanized the homunculi ... if one had a death wish.

A few hours after leaving Sloth to make his own way back to his tunnel, Greed was half sitting up in his bed, still awake, despite how tired he was from that _very_ bad day. Envy lay asleep in his arms, her spiky, green-black hair brushed lightly against Greed's bare chest as she breathed. Greed absent-mindedly hugged her closer as she slept, covering her small breasts with his hands. Envy had been more passive than usual during sex that night; had actually let Greed be the one on top for once, and had snuggled up to him afterwards, falling asleep against him, almost like ... she was more interested in comfort than in carnal needs. _Bah, I sound like a "hero" from one of Lust's trashy romance novels. _Greed scoffed to himself for thinking of such an absurd notion.

Greed leaned his head back against his pillow, his thoughts still clouded. _Even before today, I knew ... I guess I always knew what a selfish bastard he is. Heh, I am his Greed, after all. I just can't live like this anymore. _Greed nodded his head forward and rested his chin against Envy's sleeping head. _Well, this I don't mind. _He kissed the top of her head gently. He slowly started to slide out from beneath Envy, being careful not to wake her. Greed got out of bed, picked up his clothes from the various places they had been tossed around his cluttered bedroom, and got dressed. He then pulled out the drawstring bag he had hidden under his bed, for, how long had it been? A decade or so? _Man, I've been thinking about this for that long ..._

Inside was money, envelops stuffed with mostly Amestrian bills, but also some from Aerugo and Creta, even some Xingese coins. As well were some diamonds and other gems, gold jewellery, notebooks with various bank account numbers for Homunculus use that Father or his human cronies had created (all of which Greed planned on cleaning out), anything else he could think of that was portable and valuable. As well as a couple changes of clothes, and of course, his favourite pair of sunglasses. Greed looked over to his desk and sighed. Shortly after Gluttony's creation, Lust had thought it would be fun to have one of those new "photographs" taken of all of them together, though she had only managed to get himself, Gluttony and Envy to agree. So the four of them "smiled" for the camera – Greed with his arms around his girls, Envy and Lust both giving him annoyed looks, and Gluttony confused, sucking on his finger as usual. Greed gave a small, nostalgic smile at the picture. They had been lucky to rescue the film before Gluttony had eaten the camera. Reluctantly, he stuffed the picture in his bag along with the other "necessities".

Greed gave one last look towards his bed. "Envy ..." he whispered, and wrapped his blanket around his sleeping lover. "I wish I could take you with me, but we both have a better chance if I go alone. Dad doesn't like me anyway, he probably won't care, but if we both go, he'll hunt us down. I ... guess I just don't want you to get hurt either." He bent down and kissed her on the lips, trying to control the urge to just get back in bed, wake her up and go for another round. Instead, Greed tore himself away. "Try not to get in too much trouble, my little monster." Greed threw his bag over his shoulder, left his room and pushed the door closed quietly. He blinked away the water welling up in his eyes, as he made his way down the hall to Lust's room.

Lust was obviously asleep; even after Sloth's recharge, she had needed her rest. As Greed had expected, Gluttony had not left her side. His round little brother, less than twenty years old, was sat on the large cushion Lust had put in her room beside her bed especially for him, as he watched their sister sleep. "Greed?" He whispered as he saw his brother's familiar silhouette in the doorway. Gluttony got up and started to waddle towards the door – he knew when Greed visited Lust, it was time for him to go back to his own room.

"Hey little bro, it's okay. You don't have to go this time. Actually, I have a favour to ask you, something only you can do."

"What is it, Greed?" Gluttony blinked in surprise.

Greed kneeled down, now face to face with his little brother. "I'm ... I'm going away for a while, kid. While I'm gone, I need you to look after my girls for me. I know you'd look after Lust anyway, but take care of Envy too. Stay by them whenever you can, try to keep them out of trouble, and ..." Greed took a breath. "If _anyone_ ever tries to hurt either of them again, like Lust was hurt today, eat them, even if the others tell you not to. You have my permission to do so."

"Even if it's Pride?" Gluttony asked.

"Especially if it's Pride."

"Oh ... okay Greed. I'll look after Lust and Envy for you! You'll be proud of me when you come back!" Gluttony said enthusiastically.

"I know I will be." Greed smiled fondly at his simple-minded, but sweet baby brother, and rubbed his bald head affectionately. He then walked quietly over to Lust's side, and gave her a kiss, being careful not to wake her. "Guess this is goodbye for now, babe. Don't let any other guys take my place, not even Wrath, if he is a guy."

To Greed's surprise, Lust's eyes fluttered open. "No one else will ever be my Shield," she breathed quietly, her lips meeting his in a soft, sensual kiss. Lust then pressed a finger to his lips before he could say anything. "I knew this day would come. I understand."

"You sure you can't come with?"

"You know the answer to that. Goodbye Greed, and good luck." Lust sighed sleepily, and lay her head back down onto her pillow.

Greed nodded, got up, and headed towards the door. "If you see the Big Guy, tell him ... tell Sloth that he was wrong," he said, to either of his siblings. He gave a small wave towards Gluttony. "Later, kid."

"Bye Greed!" Greed was surprised Gluttony managed to keep his voice low, as he waved goodbye.

* * *

Greed looked down from the warehouse rooftop at Central City, as the streetlight's lanterns flickered out, one by one, as their candles burned out, not that it mattered. The sun's first few rays of the day started to peek out from beyond the horizon, the pinks and oranges of sunrise starting to replace the dark blue of night. For the century since his creation, Greed had watched this city grow, its people go about their lives, never knowing what lay in store for them in about another hundred years. Would these people even care? Humans were such strange creatures, living in the here and now; the future was an abstract, so why worry about what may or may not happen?

"Maybe they have a point." Greed said to himself. "After all, aren't I always saying that 'nothing is impossible'? Maybe old Pops' 'plan' really is the bullshit I've always thought it was. Maybe he'll fall flat on his face. Hell, there might even be humans out there that would accept a monster like me." Greed looked towards the sunrise in the East. He pulled his sunglasses out of his bag, and put them on. "Guess I'll just have to spend the next hundred years finding out!"


End file.
